Image Advance Arrivals: April 2026
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Transformers vol. 5: Generation One
Vol. 4 saw original writer Daniel Warren Johnson wrap up the story he’d been telling since the start to somewhat disappointing effect (as far as I was concerned). A lot of stuff happened, but it didn’t really support the epic scope the writer was trying to achieve or the character beats that he clearly wanted to land. It was all enough to make me glad that someone else would be steering this series starting with its fifth volume.
That someone is Robert Kirkman. The man who got the Energon Universe rolling with “Void Rivals” and, after a rough start, has been doing quality work building up that title with its own story and deep connections to “Transformers” lore (while also nodding to the weirder parts of “G.I. Joe” history). There’s also the fact that as the writer of “The Walking Dead” and “Invincible,” I’ve always got time for what he does next, especially as he’s teaming up with the incredible Dan Mora for this arc. Jorge Corona delivered quality work in the past three volumes, but Mora is likely to make this next arc look as good as it has since Johnson illustrated its first arc.
Which is good because I’ve got NO IDEA what to expect from this volume. Solicitations have indicated that Optimus Prime and Elita-1 are going to throw down over what has happened previously, and that’s good. Aside from that, and general hints that the Decepticons are still Up To Something, I’ll be going into this volume mostly blind. Which is exactly how I’d want it to be.
Red Roots #1: “Void Rivals’” Lorenzo de Felici writes and illustrates this new series where the lives of a professional killer and a high school teacher are bound by a terrifying force. I guess this is the reason he’s not drawing “The Quintesson War” over in that series and it appears he won’t be back in that part of the galaxy for a while now. After seeing his work in that series, as well as in “Oblivion Song,” I feel like I owe it to de Felici to see if his writing is as good as his art and if Kirkman has been holding him back all these years. That seems unlikely, but we shall see.
I Hate Fairyland #50: I gave up on this series a while back and haven’t regretted it. Still, congrats to writer Skottie Young and current artist Derek Laufman for making it to this point. It’s not as interesting as the other milestone issue in these solicitations, though…
Youngblood #100: I’ve never read a single issue of “Youngblood,” not even the ones written by Alan Moore. However, I have to applaud the fact that original creator Rob Liefeld is writing and illustrating this issue himself after he relaunched it. That’s because it seemed unlikely that he’d ever do it again after he lost control of the series to notorious comics industry conman Andrew Rev. We don’t know what dark ritual Liefeld had to complete in order to regain control of his signature creator-owned work (or what kind of numbering they used to determine this was issue #100), but it’s exceptionally rare in comics to get an anniversary issue like this that’s illustrated by a title’s original creator. Congrats, Rob, and here’s hoping you get to #200 in half the time!
Now for an anniversary issue that really warrants celebrating…
Head Lopper vol. 5 #1 (of 4): Marking ten years since the creation of Andrew MacLean’s sword and sorcery epic about the title character (Norgal to his friends), the sarcastic severed witch’s head he keeps with him, and their friends as they journey through a distinct fantasy world. Yes, it’s very much “Not ‘Conan’” but it has a much brighter tone, real humor, and an overarching plot that’s been slowly threaded through the first four volumes. Which I should probably see about re-reading before this latest one is collected. I’m glad to have it back.
Ghost Machine: The Official Guidebook #1 (of 5): Four volumes of “Geiger,” two of “Redcoat,” one of “Junkyard Joe,” and “The Blizzard.” That doesn’t seem like enough content in a fictional universe to fill out a five-issue guidebook for it. Unless they’re planning on giving separate entries to each of Nate’s fellow Nuclear Knights. Hopefully not as there are story credits for this issue from Geoff Johns, Brad Meltzer, Peter Tomasi and Francis Manapul, which implies we’re getting some new story content here. This strikes me as one for the Ghost Machine diehards if that’s not the case, however.
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero – Sssilent Missions: Baroness, Copperhead, Crimson Guard, Firefly, and Zartan (One-Shots): Yes, the “Sssilent” is intentional. Because these are spotlight issues for the members of Cobra, you see. After we got one-off issues for the Joes last year, the bad guys get their due. That said, I’m wondering why we’re not getting issues featuring Destro or Cobra Commander here since they seem like they’d have been obvious choices. There’s a lot of talent working on these issues, as before with Joelle Jones (co-writing/illustrating) and Declan Shalvey (co-writing) on “Baroness,” Howard Porter on “Copperhead,” Gabriel Hardman on “Crimson Guard,” Jorge Fornes on “Firefly,” and Tom DeFalco (writing) and Pat Oliffe (illustrating) “Zartan.” The first round of “Silent Issues” showed that even if “G.I. Joe” #21 is often imitated and never duplicated, seeing other creators try to reach for it can still be pretty entertaining.
Skinbreaker #8 (of 8): Wherein Robert Kirkman and David Finch’s fantasy epic reaches its conclusion. For now, I’m assuming. Which is actually kind of surprising since I don’t recall this being solicited as a miniseries when it launched? Did it crash and burn that badly, or are Kirkman and Finch’s schedules too busy to keep this as an ongoing series? I want to believe the latter, but I guess we’ll see once the collected edition arrives.
Artificial: It is the future and there are robots. That you can date through services. Which is what disillusioned stylist Clara decides to do, only to have her dream partner turn into a STALKER-BOT! The solicitation text says it’s “Babygirl” meets “Black Mirror,” but I’m thinking “Ex Machina” meets “Fatal Attraction.” This comes from creator Maria Llovet who delivered an entertaining solo debut with “Crave” and a half-formed follow-up with “Violent Flowers.” Hopefully her trashy thriller instincts will win out over worldbuilding here.
Happy! Deluxe Edition (Paperback): Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson’s miniseries about an ex-cop turned hitman and the small, imaginary, blue horse that follows him around gets a new edition. Which is the paperback version of the deluxe edition. That was so named because it featured an additional ten pages of story content from the creators. I never got around to re-buying it for that content, but I may try to do it here. If I remember.
No Man’s Land: When a body is discovered on the ice bridge between Russia and America in 1963, it threatens to turn the Cold War hot. Now it’s up to agents from the FBI and KGB to find out whodunit before we all pay the price. This comes to us from creator Szymon Kudranski who delivered one of the most obvious and ham-fisted odes to the power of creativity I’ve ever read, “Something Epic.” I can’t imagine how he’d deliver a straightforward thriller any better, but I’ll admit to being at least a little (morbidly) curious about finding out.